As you might expect, we hear a lot of wild 'n crazy rumors in this line of work. We try to chase down as many as we can, and if we can confirm them, we report out in these pages.

One of the more interesting rumors we received, from multiple sources, was that Howard Rice, the prominent San Francisco -based law firm, was giving its incoming first-year associates two-year deferrals. Talk about a delayed start date!

Two years struck us as a bit insane. Why not just rescind the offers outright, and be done with it?

As is so often the case, however, the game of telephone distorted things a bit. We reached out to the firm for comment. Recruiting partner Jon Hughes explained:

Thank you for providing us the opportunity to address the information you heard about Howard Rice, and to respond to your questions.

Your instinct was correct: we are not deferring start dates for two years, and we are not deferring all of our incoming class. We had eight associates scheduled to start this fall - seven litigation associates and one business associate. We are deferring the start dates for three incoming litigation associates for one year. We will pay them a stipend and work closely with them to find opportunities that will be valuable to their development and their careers here. For example, we are looking for opportunities for these new attorneys to work with one or more of the many national and local public interest organizations with which we have a close relationship.

I think the confusion about the two years may be that one of the three associates has a clerkship for fall 2009 to fall 2010, so in that one instance, that incoming associate will start in fall 2010.

Howard Rice has not taken any other actions with respect to more senior classes of associates (that was one of the questions you asked). [Ed. note: We asked about whether the firm had laid off or offered buyouts to any more senior associates.]

Just a few more words to put this decision in context. Our primary goal in making this decision is to ensure that the very bright, hard working and talented attorneys who join us have an experience in their first year of practice that is challenging and interesting. Counting last fall and this coming fall, we have a disproportionately high number of incoming first-year associates who want to join our litigation practice. One of the reasons we attract the best litigation associate candidates in the country is that we give our them more responsibility earlier in their careers than their peers get at many other firms. We concluded that this decision would help us keep that commitment, to our current junior associates and those will be arriving at the firm this fall and next.

We thank Mr. Hughes for the clarification. Deferring incoming first years for a year is obviously not ideal (and it's one of the most delayed start dates we're aware of; prior coverage of start date changes is collected below). But it's a far cry from a two-year "deferral," which is laughable.

Are you aware of a major (i.e., Am Law 200) law firm that is pushing back its start dates for first-year associates? If the news hasn't been mentioned here before, feel free to drop us a line. Thanks.

Earlier: An Update on Start Dates: DLA Piper, Pillsbury Winthrop
Nationwide Start Date Watch: K&L Gates